Conditioned
by Princess Pinky
Summary: They've conditioned themselves to ignore the heat. But sometimes conditioning can go on the fritz and then what are two people to do?


**A/N: **It's like a million degrees here right now, so I couldn't get this fic out of my head.

_**Conditioned**_

"Hey, Pervert, would you kindly pull your eyes back into your head, thank you?"

Ricky blinked. He curled his fists and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. The view from the Juergenses' side of the fence was smoking and he hadn't even realized he'd zoned out while he'd been staring at his ex-girlfriend slash temporary next door neighbor. "It's not my fault you're out here trying to catch my attention with a bikini and a lawn mister."

"You always think everything's about you," Adrian shot back mouthily. She was draped across a lawn chair like a mink rug, dressed skimpily in a purple bikini and comically large movie star sunglasses. The hose was attached with a spiraling plastic device that was emitting a fine mist across her skin, which had darkened to a rich molasses color in various areas from the sun.

"If you're not trying to impress me, then what _are _you doing?" He placed his hands on the wall and hopped over without permission.

"A/C's on the fritz and I'm _trying _to study history exam."

Ricky swaggered over to her lawn chair and picked up the book covered volume she was holding. He flipped through it as she stared up at him from behind her dark sunglasses. He couldn't see her eyes, but he figured they looked smug.

"Satisfied?" she held out her hands and accepted the history book back with a tight lipped smirk. She rested it on her curved abdomen, just above her belly but just below her full breasts and held it with one hand, while she reached over to a bowl of ice seated next to her and popped a cube into her mouth.

"Pregnancy cravings?" Ricky asked curtly, shifting his brow as if hoping to embarrass her.

"Actually, yes," Adrian announced without looking up. She slid the cube back and forth between her lips, making it shinier and shinier as she sucked on it, then it disappeared into her mouth, leaving her lips gleaming with water.

"Where's Ben?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

Annoyed, Ricky slid his hand into the bowl and grabbed an ice cube. He rolled it between his fingers for a few minutes, allowing it to melt and the water to seep into his hot skin, then he moved it to the back of Adrian's neck.

She gasped as first and her shoulders stiffened and curled up around her neck, then she gradually loosened up and said not a word as Ricky began to work the ice cube around her hot skin. Adrian turned the page in her history book lazily, as if he wasn't even there. When the ice cube finally melted away, leaving small streams of water cascade down her flesh and absorb into her sweltering skin, she finally tilted her head back. "How's John?"

Ricky glanced back at the Juergenses' house. "He's fine."

"So you're sleeping in Amy's room?"

"I sleep on the couch," he corrected. "It would be weird sleeping in her bed."

"It's not like you haven't done it before."

"We weren't in her bed, just like you weren't in Ben's," Ricky shot back.

Adrian watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed his irritation with her remarks. She grabbed another piece of ice and popped it into her mouth. "Oh."

"So I take it Amy still doesn't know yet?"

"She's in New York, why ruin her summer?"

"You wouldn't care about ruining her summer…that's Ben talking."

"And she didn't care about kissing you." From the corner of her eye, she could see him exhale guiltily. Absently, her hand found her way to her stomach. She didn't really look pregnant yet, the only ones who could tell were the people who already knew. She just looked like she had much fuller breasts than she'd ever had before, which was impressive given that she already looked good before she was pregnant.

"So you're keeping it then?" Ricky asked suddenly, changing tracks.

"I'm not aborting, if that's what you mean. Between my dad and Ben and Ben's dad and your mom and Grace…I just, I guess the guilt trip's too good. But I don't know what we're going to do."

"'We'? So you and Ben are-"

"Having a baby, nothing more."

"Right."

"Damn right!" Adrian hissed. Her voice was suddenly arched with steel as she sat up. She ripped the sunglasses from her face so Ricky could see her flaming eyes. "Just like you and Amy did! Now why do you have to keep trying to pick a fight over this?"

Ricky lifted his hands in surrender. "I wasn't trying to pick a fight! I-" He fumbled over a few words and looked down at his shoes. "I just wanted to know what was going on, I guess."

"I told you," she replied as she reclined into her seat. "I'm trying to study. AP test tomorrow." She reached for another ice cube, but instead felt Ricky's hand on hers. She lifted her eyes to meet his, but did not make a move to retract her hand. "Where's the A/C?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'd just like to take a look at it. I've fixed a couple of air conditioners with my foster dad in the past." He shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "It couldn't hurt to take a peek. You'll be no worse off than you are now."

Adrian ran the tip of her tongue along the edge of her teeth, then tossed the history book to the ground. "Fine." When Ricky released her hand, she pulled out another ice cube, but didn't stick it into her mouth. "This way." She sashayed into the house with Ricky just a few beats behind her and showed him to the fuse box in the laundry room. As he pulled it open, knelt down, and began to fiddle with things she watched the muscles beneath his sweat soaked white t-shirt, which was clinging to his skin. She bit her lip and began to rub the ice cube lazily across her chest. The water melted quickly and slid down her skin and soaked into the fabric of her bikini top.

Then a growling noise erupted from the vent and a blast of cool air blew into her face, rustling her raven curls and invoking goose bumps along her wet skin. She pinched her lips together as Ricky turned around, with a few beads of sweat clinging to the sides of his face, and stood up.

"A fuse was loose, it should be working fine now."

For a minute, she said nothing, and he seemed to be ready to leave when she suddenly grabbed him by the back of the neck, pressing the last of the melting ice cube to his bare skin. As she had earlier, she felt his shoulders tense as the sudden freezing cold, then relax. She leaned in on her tip toes, moving her lips mere centimeters from his, and whispered in a hot breathy mist, "Thanks." Then she drew her empty hand back across his neck, down his shoulder, and left.

Ricky exhaled and moved his hand to the back of his wet neck. He wiped some of the water running down his neck onto his fingers and quickly pressed said fingers to his parched lips, where he savored the wetness until the cool A/C air finally dried what was left of the melted ice cube away.


End file.
